Announcements

To kick-off Saluda Elementary's annual Read-a-thon, all students in grades PreK-5 visited the farm at Polk County High School. Students learned about the PCHS Agricultural Education program by rotating through stations led by students in Mr. Barber's 4th period Horticulture II class who taught them about the hands-on activities that teach the high schoolers about welding, animal science, carpentry, and horticulture. Elementary students were particularly interested in the school's goats, baby chicks and cow because the money raised from the Read-a-thon will be donated to Heifer International. Heifer International's mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth.

At their April Meeting, the Polk County Board of Education adopted their 2013-14 school calendars. This year, the Board adopted one calendar for Polk County Early College and a separate calendar for all of the other schools.

The Polk County Schools' Preschool program is currently accepting applications for the 2013-14 school year. The preschool program in Polk County serves 3 & 4 year-olds who qualify under various programs (Head Start, NC Pre-K, Exceptional Children), or by tuition payment. The preschool staff will work with you to determine which program will best serve your child. If you have any question, please contact our Preschool staff at 828-894-3051.

The Polk County Board of Education recently revised their 2012-13 school calendar to reflect days missed due to weather. The most important change on the calendar is for February 25, 2013. This is now a school day for all students.

Each year a small number of schools in each state are selected to participate in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The results for the 2011 assessment were released last week and NC students performed very well.

-- North Carolina was the only participating state in the country and one of only eight education systems across the world in which fourth grade math students outscored the test average and U.S. national average on the 2011 TIMSS.

--At the eighth grade level, North Carolina was among only 11 states and countries to score higher than both the TIMSS scale and national averages.

--In science, the average scores among fourth and eighth grade students in the state exceeded the TIMSS scale average but not the U.S. national average.

Although Polk County students did not participate, we can still be proud of the accomplishments of the other NC students. We can only imagine how much higher the scores would have been if our students had been included in the sample.

Two Polk County High School students won 2nd place in the NC School Board Association's "What's Super About Public Schools" video contest. Their video was originally selected as one the best of the more than 50 entries submitted by students from across the state.

At yesterday's award ceremony in Greensboro, the students were awarded the 2nd place ranking. Congratulations!

A link to the video will be available soon.

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Polk County School System does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies: Rachael Haynes-Wood, Personnel Department.